Lunch-platter.



L. B. KAUFFMANN.

LUNCH PLATTER.

APPLICATION IILED JAN. 21. 1910.

Patented May 3, 1910.

2 BHEETB-SHEET 1.

L. B. KAUFFMANN.

' LUNCH PLATTER. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 21, 1910.

Patented May 3,1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

wit meme UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOU B. KAUFFMANN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF T0 WILLIAM S. SALWAY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

LUNCH-PLATTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 3, 1910.

Application filed January 21, 1910. Serial No. 539,407.

' ew York city in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Lunch-Plat ters, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to food holding and serving devices and more particularly to a lunch platter for restaurants and lunch bars upon which platter the entire lunch may be served and from which it may be eaten.

The objects of the invention are in part set forth hereinafter and will in part be obvious. The invention consists in the novel articles, parts, combinations, constructions and improvements herein shown and described.

The accompanying drawings, referred to herein and forming a part, thereof, illustrate an embodiment of the invention, the

' same serving in connection with the description herein to explain the principles of the invention.

Of thedrawings: Figure l is a plan of a lunch platter embodying the principles of the invention; Fig. 2 is a side elevation looking at Fig. 1 from the bottom; Fig. 3 is a section on the line C-D of Fig". 1 looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 4 is a plan view showing the lunch tray upon the arm of a chair such-as is in common use in lunch rooms; Fig. 5 is a side elevation corresponding to Fig. 4.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example one embodiment of the invention, a lunch platter 1 is shown of elongated form, and conforming in a general way to the shape of the arm 9 of the chair 10, as shown in Fig. 4. The surface 2 of said tray is substantially plane and has a plurality of food holding depressions arran ed along the central lon 'tudinal axis and cose to opposite ends 0 the platter, said depressions also lying transversely of said central longitudinal axis. By this arran ement the platter will remain in equilibrium upon the chair arm without being carefully centered thereon longitudinally. A substantially circular depression 3 is I shown occupying one end of the platter and being substantially symmetrically arranged with reference to the longitudinal central axls of the tray. An oval food holding depression 4 is formed at the other end of the platter also lying across the longitudinal axis of the platter but more to one side than the other. This oval food holding de aression 4 is inclined to the central longitucinal axis, whereby the s )ace on the surface of the platter is better ut1 ized as it leaves room at one side for an additional though smallcr' depression, and it is more handy to cut and take the food therefrom. A smaller depression 5 is located at one side of the central longitudinal axis and on the opposite side from the larger part of the oval food holding depression 4. This depression 5 may be used for holding a glass or mng'ti or other vessel containing a beverage. The depression 5 has at the lower part thereof straight walls 7 for firmly and steadily holding the glass or mug 6 in position, while the upper part of the walls are flared or dished outwardly as shown at 8, and are adapted to catch any of the beverage which may spill out of the glass or mug 6 while the platter is being carried, and especially when elbowing through a crowd or when setting it down on the table or a chair arm.

It will be seen that by the arrangement of the large food holding receptacles at opposite ends of the platter and also across a central longitudinal axis, the area of the depression 3 being ractically bisected thereby, that the weig t of the food will not tend to upset the platter when it is carelessly placed on the arm 9 of the chair 10. If it is laced diagonally across, the portions of ood carried in the depressions will tend to balance each other, and if placed substantially parallel longitudinally of the arm but rather far to one side, each of the large food holding receptacles would still be above the supporting arm.

The platter is shown with the outer edge 12 turned or inclined upwardly and with a ridge or ridges 13 struck up in the surface of the platter and running from one point to another in the up-turncd edge thereby cutting oil the various food holding depressions from one another. The ridges might be struck in the opposite direction if desired but preferably project upward from the surface of the platter. The platter is thus adapted to hold soups or stews in the depressions 3 or 4, as well as a glass in the depression 5 without one liquid or senilliquid article of food running into and becoming mixed with another, should they be spilled in carrying or moving, and also preventing any droppings from the platter upon the clothing, the chair, or the floor.

The food may be placed directly in the depressions in the platter if desired, instead and efl'ective cleansing, all sharp angles and corners being avoided and the platters are also formed so that they will rest one within the other.

The invention inits broader aspects is notlimited to the structure shown and described but variations may be made therefrom within the scope of the accompanying claims without departing from the principles of the invention.

What I do claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A lunch platter having a depressed food receptacle therein having inclined walls, and having also a depressed receptacle having partially vertical and partially inclined walls for holding a beverage containing vessel, and a ridge in the surface of the platter cutting off the two said receptacles from each other, whereby a liquidoverflowing on the platter is prevented from running into an adjacent food receptacle.

2. A lunch platter having a plurality of depressed food receptacles in the surface thereof and a projection in the surface of the platter cutting ofl one of said depressed food receptacles from another, whereby a liquid overflowing on the face of the platter from one of said food holding depressions is prevented from'running' into another of said food holding depressions. I

In testimony whereof, I have signed my 7 name to this specification, in the presence of two subscrlbing witnesses.

LOU B. KAUFFMANN Witnesses: I

JOHND. MORGAN, Ross MENK. 

